Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Busch unhappy with way car handles in draft

Monday, Feb. 10, 2003 | 10 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Daytona 500 odds

Dale Earnhardt Jr. .......... 4/1

Jeff Gordon ................. 6/1

Tony Stewart ................ 7/1

Michael Waltrip ............. 7/1

Kurt Busch ................. 10/1

Dale Jarrett ............... 10/1

Sterling Marlin ............ 12/1

Rusty Wallace .............. 14/1

Jimmie Johnson ............. 15/1

Bill Elliott ............... 15/1

Ryan Newman ................ 15/1

Bobby Labonte .............. 18/1

Matt Kenseth ............... 20/1

Mark Martin ................ 20/1

Ward Burton ................ 22/1

Jeff Burton ................ 25/1

Kevin Harvick .............. 25/1

Joe Nemechek ............... 25/1

Elliott Sadler ............. 28/1

Jamie McMurray ............. 30/1

Johnny Benson .............. 35/1

Steve Park ................. 40/1

Ricky Rudd ................. 40/1

Jeremy Mayfield ............ 40/1

Ricky Craven ............... 40/1

Greg Biffle ................ 50/1

Dave Blaney ................ 50/1

Robby Gordon ............... 50/1

Mike Skinner ............... 50/1

Mike Wallace ............... 50/1

Jeff Green ................. 55/1

Scott Wimmer ............... 55/1

Kenny Wallace .............. 60/1

Jerry Nadeau ............... 65/1

Hank Parker Jr. ............ 75/1

Kyle Petty ................. 75/1

Christian Fittipaldi ....... 75/1

John Andretti .............. 80/1

Bobby Hamilton Sr. ......... 85/1

Jack Sprague .............. 100/1

Ken Schrader .............. 100/1

Jimmy Spencer ............. 150/1

Todd Bodine ............... 150/1

Terry Labonte ............. 200/1

Brett Bodine .............. 450/1

Derrike Cope .............. 999/1

Field ...................... 50/1

Source: Station Casinos

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kurt Busch of Las Vegas was not thrilled with the way his No. 97 Rubbermaid Ford handled in the draft during Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout.

Busch started third in the 70-lap race and led for 11 laps during the first 20-lap segment. In the second 50-lap segment, Busch was running second to Jeff Gordon with five laps remaining before getting shuffled out of the draft. Busch finished 11th in his second appearance in the Shootout.

"The car was comfortable (when it was running) out front but not so comfortable when I was behind someone," Busch said. "It doesn't make much sense ... I don't know why we can't get the car to follow and push people.

"I wish it could follow closer to other cars. We need to be able to push people better and then that way, my lane will go further ahead."

The car Busch drove in the Shootout is not the same one he will run in the Daytona 500 but he said the cars are nearly identical "and that's all we got."

Qualifying was rescheduled for 10:05 a.m. (PST) today, but the forecast again called for scattered showers throughout the day.

Qualifying will determine only the front row for the Daytona 500. The remainder of the field will be set by a combination of the results of Thursday's 125-mile qualifying races, qualifying times and provisionals.

Earnhardt selected triplets Erica, Nicole and Jaclyn Dahm as the subjects for the shoot after meeting them several times in the past year at promotional functions for his sponsor, Anheuser-Busch.

"How could you not say 'yes' to an offer like this?" Earnhardt said. "I thought I was just going to show up and push the shutter down but I was involved in the whole thing ... from the setting to the wardrobe.

"It was awesome, and I was really happy that the girls agreed to do this with me. They were really cool about it. It was fun for me to be on the other side of the camera for once -- and to see three gorgeous women through the viewfinder."

The pictorial will be available on Playboy's subscription Internet site beginning today.

"As far as feeling like (Daytona) owes me something, if seniority or coming here the most has anything to do with it, yeah, I guess you would feel somewhat cheated," Rudd said.

"But the way I look at it, none of these racetracks owe any of us anything, so you take what it will give you."

Other veteran drivers with notable Daytona 500 winless streaks include Terry Labonte (24 attempts), Kyle Petty (21), Rusty Wallace (20), Mark Martin (18) and Ken Schrader (18).

Dave Marcis holds the dubious record of running 33 Daytona 500s without a victory.

"When they came to me in Phoenix, I think what they all saw was a coordination of rock 'n roll, heavy metal, NASCAR and racing," Cooper said of his involvement in the team.

"You can't get any more heavy metal than an 800-horsepower Pontiac going at full speed with a 19-year-old driving it who is just fearless out there. To me, that made a lot of sense."